1791

I wouldn’t think that single item would do this, but more that the tax cut as a whole wasn’t really targeted at actual people.

1792

It’s baked into the way and the time the country was founded. While the landed grandees who created the United States objected to titles of nobility, there was never any thought given to the fact that high officials of the federal government might need to make their living from holding office. It was assumed that they’d be “gentlemen” aka people for whom day to day money would never be an issue.
Hell, Andrew Jackson supposedly had some very lean years toward the end of his life because there was no such thing as a pension for former Presidents yet.

1793

Can’t she use any of her campaign funds to help pay for her transition into office?

1794

Economics helps us understand that it is entrepreneurs, inventors and new ideas propelled by ordinary people that power an economy.

This person is mixing personal finance, business and economic courses all into one bucket and then trying to suggest someone shouldn’t run because of lack of affordability and because their ideas are too big. Those ideals are more about politics, poly sci, then economics. The other important fact Anne is missing is you can understand something and still reject it.

If we don’t have a means for people with ordinary lives which equates to little or no means to easily shift jobs or move built into the political system, that’s a fault on the political system itself, not the person who ran and won.

1795

I don’t even think you need to append ‘into the political system’ on this. This is true, largely, for most people. Moving for a new job is damn hard. It’s also very stressful, both mentally and financially.

Shit, my own move is hurting, and I’m getting paid engineer rates and had decent savings. Yet despite making good money in a good industry it wasn’t easy.

Fuck that elitist prick who wrote that article. May every mocha latte they order be rancid and cold.

1796

Well this is true, but I don’t really support the idea that we, the public, should have to front the bill for most of that. We could certainly make resources more readily available but for politicians, for elect reps that have to go to DC and can’t afford to support two residents and have to travel a lot, yeah there should be money for that.

1797

She’s a friggin rock star now, I’m sure she’ll be ok financially.

1798

But that’s not the point, not hers either. We shouldn’t have people avoiding running for office because they can’t afford to rent in DC. If there is some sort of in-between period where they can’t earn, that should be accounted for too.

1799

They should have dorms available to them. Nice dorms, maybe even apartment style dorms. Besides, one of the problems that several people have mentioned is that there is social connection between the different representatives. The social capital that gives helps with negotiation and compromise. These people chalk it up to the lack of presence on weekends, but I think dorms might help with that.

I bet if we did it right, it wouldn’t have to be that expansive either. Put it somewhere outside of DC, and have a shuttle bus that runs 24/7 to and from the capital.

1800

The campaign may not pay for mortgage, rent or utilities for the personal residence of the candidate or the candidate’s family even if part of the residence is being used by the campaign.

She could buy a new security system, but she couldn’t rent a place to install said security system.

Turns out rich people rules written by rich people, aren’t great rules for regular folks.

I imagine it’s more to prevent her from buying a mansion in the Bahamas than anything. But since more Congress critters are already rich people, they never really cared they couldn’t use it to get housing in DC.

1801

An example of how a non-rich person might try to achieve the exact same goals: simply cap the amount of money spent on personal expenses. Allow enough to cover transition costs if elected and modest rent/expenses for a period of time until the Congressional salary kicks in. The rule as written simply assumes the candidate can afford real estate in one of the pricier US markets. But of course…

1802

Not to mention maintaining two residences. Also, I assumed Senators made more than Reps but they all make $174K. Leaders make an extra $20K. Speaker makes an extra $50K.

1803

It really is. Mine is from when I was 18 and I don’t sign like that anymore. Not even close. I guess I would be disqualified forevermore.

1804

Trump’s barely looks the same from 2 years ago.

1805

I’ve had my signature rejected a few times. They tell you you can fix it by registering again with your current signature… or I guess they got bored with me constantly sending confirmation that yes, I voted and yes that’s me because they stopped asking.

1806

It is not at all unusual for several Representatives to share an apartment. People have written stories about that for years. Even Chuck Schumer and Dick Durban famously shared a house, for three decades.

1807

There was even an Amazon sitcom about it.

When their house mate is hauled off to prison, three Republican senators sharing a row house in Washington, D.C., find themselves in need of a new boarder. Enter Florida freshman Andy Guzman, who joins the guys as they battle primary challenges, party filibusters and the possibility of a junket to Afghanistan.

1808

That’s probably not a great early signpost for the outcome of the lawsuit. While the suit will go forward, I would assume that if a judge had found that the suit had a good chance of ultimately succeeding and overturning the ranked-choice law that the injunction to stop the vote counting process would’ve been upheld.

1809

It’s a bit odd that so many people want to keep votes from being counted.

1810

It’s another reminder that the GOP has no interest in liberal democracy, only power. If they could get away with completely disenfranchising everyone who doesn’t vote for them, they would do so without hesitation or remorse.

Maybe some furrowing.